Ressurect The Ruins
by Quidditch Cup
Summary: David and Co. are given Olympian escorts to the Elven lands in an attempt to recruit them. But it turns out their new friends are slighly more dangerous than first thought...leaving the four to piece the puzzle of their guides together, and manage to liv


Chapter One:

Mount Olympus. I was standing at the base of Mount Olympus. A place that not so long ago had only existed to me in myths and fairy tales and ancient history class. And here I was, looking up at a mythical mountain, in a world that could not possibly exist, but _did_.

WTE: Welcome to Everworld. A land where Vikings still raided, aliens roamed free, fairies and elves were commonplace, where the Egyptian deities battled the Amazon women for control of their land, and where Mount Olympus and it's share of gods were very, very real.

The funniest part was that I hardly even notice odd things like that anymore. They're the commonplace every day things to me now. So what if the half dead, demon goddess Hel dangled me by one foot over a pit of mutilated, moaning bodies? Big deal, I've seen worse.

It hasn't always been this way. A few months ago I was David Levin, average high school student living at home with my mom in a Chicago suburb. Then I met Senna.

Senna was my girlfriend, and somehow she'd been sucked into this world by the power of ancient Norse gods. Unfortunately, four others of us were pulled in with her. Here we discovered that Senna was a witch, and I was under her spell. I'm not proud of all the things I did under her influence, but thanks to the goddess Athena I was freed. Not that it would matter now anyways, since Senna is dead. Her half-sister April killed her to keep her from using her powers to take control of Everworld. Deep down inside, part of me knew someone should have stopped her long ago, but another part still longed for her. Her death is one wound I don't think will ever fully heal.

And now here we were, four real world kids trapped here forever. We'd faded from the our world...and in a sense I think we'd all chosen Everworld as our new home.

Now I am Davideus, General of the Greek army and hero of the goddess Athena. And I was home.

"What a view." I hear a voice behind me, and Jalil Sherman, the most knowledgeable of us, stepped up beside me.

Jalil is an ok guy. He's African-American, and very intelligent. He had gotten us out of more than one sticky situation by using his brains. He resisted Senna longer than any of the rest of us, and even after she humiliated him by revealing his obsessive compulsive behavior, he still managed to push her away. As a self proclaimed atheist, coming here and facing all these supposedly mythical gods had been a big shock. Thanks to him, Everworld now has telegraphs, underground electricity, and advanced mining techniques. Thanks to him, Princess Etain is now the queen of a dwarf kingdom.

Which brings me to the third member of our party, Christopher Hitchcock. Christopher had been in love with Princess Etain, and despite the fact that he and I are usually at odds, I actually feel sorry for him. When we first arrived in Everworld, Christopher was a selfish, racist, wise cracking, borderline immoral pain in the butt. It took a lot for him to settle some things, but he's finally woken up to reality. He's gotten a lot of slaps in the face...mostly from women we've met along the way, but some in a good sense too. He thinks he's quite the ladies man. Big, blond, and in his opinion, charming.

Then there's April, Senna' s half sister by her father. April is a rock, in my opinion. With red hair, and bright green eyes, she'd also not bad looking. Not that I'd even consider her as more than a friend, though. I've had enough of her family for this lifetime. Skilled at drama, and a pretty good singer, April would have ended up as an actress in the real world with no trouble. That's what she wanted to do, but I guess she figured helping others here would be a more meaningful life. I think she's right.

"Here they come!" Christopher shouted, and down from the clouds eclipsing the top of the mountain swooped four, snow white winged horses. They landed gracefully a dozen yards away and trotted up to us.

"The great Athena awaits your return, General Davideus." The largest of the four horses said to me.

"What about the rest of us?" Christopher blinked innocently at Pegasus, who stared back at him with a steady, unmoving gaze.

"Let's get going." April said grouchily, reaching for the wing of her mount. "I for one could use a hot bath."

We clambered up onto the back of Pegasus and his three sons. Riding bareback on a flying horse is quite an experience, and even though we've done this several times before, I still felt a slight jolt in my stomach as Pegasus leapt into the air, flapping his large wings and catching an updraft. A moment later we were flying directly up the sheer face of Mount Olympus. It looks unclimbable, but we'd done that on our first visit to the home of the gods. Personally, I prefered flying.

I hated to look back a we soared towards the mountain top, knowing that I would see the gathering army of insect-like Hetwan darkening the land behind us. The Hetwan are followers of Ka-Anor, and although they're easy to kill, the sheer number of their forces was threatening. That and the fact they had guns, while we're still fighting with swords and spears.

Not that we could blame the Hetwn for that dilemma, however. We had been the ones to sell April's chemistry book to the Coo-Hatch, a wandering alien race of metal smiths. They had been the ones to manufacture the guns, with the hope that we would trade their weapons for the only thing Ka-Anor couldn't give them: a way home.

Athena had sent us out on a quest to retrieve Senna's mother from the Egyptians, and we had arrived to find Everworld's Egypt overrun by Amazon women. Needless to say, we barely complected our mission and almost lost our lives at the hands of king Neptune in the process. On the other hand, by Etain's marriage to King Baldwin we were allied with the dwarves.

Greeks and a handful of dwarves against ten thousand Hetwans. I sighed as Pegasus' front hooves touched solid ground, and I slid off onto the marble paved road. Surprisingly, we were not far from Zeus's hall itself.

To one side was Athena's house or temple. I've never really been certain which it its. She was standing on the steps, clothed in a modest dress as usual, and accompanied by her ever present helmet and spear. Her statue loomed next to her, making her height appear minimal when she was, in fact, extremely tall.

"General Davideus," She said, moving towards us. I bowed slightly, earning a quiet snicker from Christopher. "We are eager to hear your report." She paused and stared at us each in turn. "Where is the witch?"

Here it was, the thousand dollar question. The question we all knew was coming, but no one wanted to answer.

I cleared my throat lamely, trying to buy time, but before I could speak, April stepped forward.

"She's dead. I killed her. I mean...I had to, she was going to kill us, and a lot of others too." April bit her lip, her green eyes expressionless.

"She opened a pathway between here and the old world." I continued quickly, mostly for April's sake. "She brought back men with modern weapons. They destroyed Merlinshire and killed the king. They scattered Loki's army and killed his son, Fenrir. Only seven of us survived."

Athena nodded slowly, her face clouded. "Father Zeus wishes to see you. I hope you have better news for him than you have for me."

We were silent as she led us into Zeus's open air throne room. The platform was filled with servants, as usual, but there were only a handful of gods present. Zeus was in his giant eagle form, a bird bigger and more powerful than any real animal could possibly ever be. He inclined his giant head towards us as we entered and addressed Athena, his beak moving as if it were actually producing his words.

"Have they prepared their report, my daughter?"

"Yes, Great Father. General Davideus has much to tell us, it seems." She stepped aside, giving me center stage.

I quickly related to them all the events of our journey, beginning with our trouble with the African gods, and ending with our recruitment of Loki and his forces and our escape from Hel. The entire room was silent as I spoke, which did nothing to help my nerves. Here I was, telling a slightly less than happy tale in front of a god who hurled thunderbolts, and a dozen other minor deities with short tempers and major powers. Not exactly the ideal situation.

I cleared my throat again as I finished, and braced myself, waiting for the inevitable thunderbolt to strike. But it didn't.

Instead, Zeus, who had assumed his human form during my speech, glanced towards Athena. "How many of our brave men are left?"

Athena shrugged her broad shoulders. "Perhaps a few thousand."

"Plus the dwarves and the Vikings." I added.

Zeus's brow creased, making him look more like a bearded Sean Connery than ever.

"But the elves, are they coming?"

Next to me, Christopher shifted uncomfortably, and Jalil Coughed once or twice. I shook my head. "We don't know, Mighty Zeus. Goewynne hadn't come by to Daggermouth yet when we left. I guess she was...running a little behind."

Zeus motioned slightly, and the thin god with wings at his ankles rose above the crowd and flew to his side.

"Hermes," Zeus's voice boomed. "I wish to know what happened to the elves. You will go to the land of the dwarves and bring me back news."

Hermes paled slightly. It was dangerous to cross the lands between Olympus and the dwarves home, and he knew it. But Zeus had given him an order, not a request, and he bowed slightly and lifted into the air again. "Yes, Great Zeus. I will be swift."

Zeus nodded his approval as the messenger god zipped out through the stone pillars forming the entryway to the chamber.

He turned back to us. The internal glow he possessed made my eyes ache. "As for you, General Davideus and followers, I believe that rest would do you some good and clear your heads for battle. Hermes will bring you the information, and then you will make a plan to save my Olympus and defeat the evil Ka-Anor." He paused for a moment, then smiled widely. "And for your services to me, I have a gift."

He motioned again, and two deities I'd never seen before stepped up on either side of him. They were startlingly different in appearance, but you could see some resemblance between them feature wise. One was short, curvaceous, smiling, and _very_ female, while the other was male, tall, well muscled but extremely thin and wore a stern expression. Both wore their hair in matching chin length curls, although the girl's were a deep brown and they boy's a white blond. They didn't seem to be much older than we are, although, with immortals, that didn't mean anything.

Zeus beamed at them each in turn, his gaze lingering on the girl for just a little longer as she smiled back.

"My children will act as companions to you for as long as you are in my service." He said to us.

"Thank you, almighty Zeus." I bowed slightly, unsure of what to say. It wasn't everyday that you were given two people as a gift, much less two gods.

They quickly stepped down off the platform, and the tall one motioned for us to follow him. Once we were out in the sun again, April and Christopher quickly caught with me.

"What do you think?" April asked, eyeing them warily as they walked ahead of us. "Why is Zeus sending us with guards?"

"They're not guards, April." Jalil piped up from behind me. "This is his way of honoring us. These two are _immortal gods_. You do get that, right? Their hanging around with us is Zeus's idea of a privilege."

"I know what I think." Christopher cut in, pointing towards the girl. "I think I'll take her as a companion any day. Sure, she's not Madonna, but look at how cute her legs are!"

I glanced down at her, and noticed instantly what he meant. She was wearing a long, sleeveless white dress, laced together at the shoulders by gold braiding studded with what looked like emeralds. The dress was slit high up either side, showing quite a bit of short, muscular leg.

April rolled her eyes. "Christopher, don't you think there are more important things than sex to think about right now?"

Christopher looked hurt. "Who said I was thinking about sex?"

I ignored them and quickened my pace until I was even with our new companions.

The boy regarded me coolly and turned to stare straight ahead. The girl, however, slipped around him and stepped up on my other side.

"So you're Athena's great General Davideus." She smiled warmly, showing deep dimples. "I am Aleaony, and this is my brother, Arandonus."

Arandonus never even looked my direction, and she sighed. "Forgive him, he's been very irritable lately."

From the inflection in her voice, I sensed that her words meant more to Arandonus than they did to me, but I let it slide. There was no point in getting myself tangled up in the personal matters of any more gods today.

"So you're Zeus's kids?" I asked, hearing Christopher snort behind me. So maybe it wasn't the most intelligent question, but it was a good conversation starter.

Aleaony nodded. "We're Father Zeus's only set of twins. He likes us, but some of the others don't feel the same." She frowned. "Aran and I are Father Zeus's youngest children. Some believe we're too young to carry out any meaningful duty."

"How old is too young?" Christopher asked, slipping his way in between Aleaony and I.

"Nineteen season cycles. Not even two decades old yet, and already in the service of our father." She shrugged, and I watched as Christopher's eyed dropped to her chest. "Not that two decades means anything out of the thousands we'll live. Most consider Aran more important than I am anyway."

I glanced at the stern looking young man next to me. His pale green eyes stood out against his white toga, making him look even more severe.

Aleaony was also watching him. "He shows more of our heritage than I do. With Aran you can at least see a trace of our elvish blood."

Christopher started, his eyes snapping back to her face. "You're elvish?"

She nodded. "Half elvish."

I raise an eyebrow. "How did Zeus manage to find an elf in a kingdom composed entirely of humans?"

Aleaony flushed and turned to study the massive structure we were passing. She was silent for a minute, then spoke. "Father Zeus is fond of women..."

Christopher snorted.

"...and he wanders into the country side often. My mother was traveling along the border on her way to marry a king in the Daghdah's land when Zeus stumbled across her. She resisted him, but no woman has ever said no to Zeus. When they parted, she was ashamed of what had happened and hid it from her husband. When Aran and I were born, the king knew we were not his. His wasn't angry with his wife, but he hate us, and planned for us to be put away. But our mother begged him to seek the Daghdah's counsel first. He advised the king to return us to our father, which he did." She paused and brushed a stray curl out of her eyes. "Zeus loved us the moment he saw us. He loved our mother. Hera was angry, but she's not too upset with Aran anymore, at least."

"You're boring them, Alea." Arandonus interrupted, fixing her with his pale pastel eyes.

"Better that they're tired of my talking than tired of your silence." Aleaony said, returning his gaze.

Aran frowned again and silently went back to staring straight ahead. I was beginning to think that a frowning was a natural think for him, as opposed to his sister's ever present smile.

He stepped slightly ahead of us, allowing April and Jalil to get in on our conversation.

"So why is it that everyone thinks you're brother's better? He's not exactly prince charming..." April said. Apparently she and Jalil had been listening all along.

Aleaony crossed her arms over her chest. "Not all the gods prefer him...but he has taken part in activities that I have not. It's gained him status in the eyes of others. Not father Zeus though." She grinned. "He thinks Aran is too cranky."

"What activities has your brother been in?" I asked, even though I had a good idea what the answer would be.

"He's been with Aphrodite. She wanted him and he agreed."

"That I can understand." Christopher muttered under his breath, and April gave him a disapproving look.

"And you haven't, uh, been with anyone?" It felt like such a perverted question to be asking.

She laughed, and the instant I heard it, my insides turned to mush. Something in the sound of her simple laugh made me feel like all my troubles had been ripped away, that the only thing that mattered was the sheer happiness of the moment.

I looked around at the others, seeing if they felt the same. I saw what my own expression must have looked like mirrored on the faces of April, Jalil and Christopher. Even Arandonus managed to crack a small smile.

"I am sworn to Artemis until Father Zeus says otherwise." Aleaony continued as if nothing had happened. "And he is very jealous of my affection. The goddess of virginity guards me well. Artemis is my sworn protector and Great Athena is my mentor."

Christopher's eyes lit up with some barely restrained sexist comment, but instead he settled for a simple "Well, that spoils my evening."

Aleaony ignored him and continued forward, slipping over to her brother's side.

"Could you be any more rude, Christopher?" April shot him a withering glance. "Although, it's not like she's important or anything, so I guess offending her wouldn't be a big deal..."

Christopher rolled his eyes. "It's not my fault our new friend happens to be a little cutie."

Jalil chuckled. "Little cutie? I'll pretend I didn't hear you say that." He turned to me. "So what are we going to do while we're waiting to hear back from Hermes?"

I shrugged as we stepped up infront of 'Motel 6 Olympus'. "I'll talk to Hephaestus to see what's been going on, but other than that, we'll just have to wait. The Hetwan don't seem over eager for a fight at the moment, so for the moment, I'm all for a bath."

Aleaony turned at my words. "I'll have a servant draw it for you immediately. Are their any needs you may have?"

Christopher leered, but kept his mouth closed.

"No, but thank you." April said, with a slight bow of her head.

Arandonus stepped towards us. "My sister and I will remain here with you. Please don't allow our presence to make you uncomfortable."

I smiled as the headed into the house in front of us. Once they had disappeared inside, Jalil spoke up.

"Well...what do you think?"

"I think I'm in love." Christopher grinned, and April smacked him.

Some things never change...


End file.
